A book set in a different country

[Anne]

Share your foreign-based challenge books here.

[M]

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, Jonas Jonasson
All the Thursday Next series by Alexander McCall Smth

[Danielle]

The English American by Alison Larkin

Being Australian both countries are a different country. I like reading about how the main character was adjusting to the difference of the two countries but it was a light easy read.

[Cyndy]

I read The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith. This is the second book in the Child 44 trilogy. If you are expecting more of the same (serial killing) you might be disappointed. If you are expecting a return of some of the same characters, you might not be. I liked the book, it took Leo in a different direction and even into a reexamination of his life and his Country's past based on Khrushchev's speech denouncing Stalin.

[Stephanie C]

"A Man Called Ove" set in Sweden. I had to add this to my favorites - I haven't ever laughed out loud with a book EVER. Ove is grumpy, cantankerous, and all- around moody - yet you grow to love him. laugh, cry, and spoil yourself with this heart-warming book. You will be glad you did!

[Eileen]

I loved this book! I read it last year early 2016 and it is still one of my overall favorites (ever)! Ove embodies many characteristics of the favorite men in my life. I laughed and then cried when it ended.

[Nancy from NJ]

I just finished The Woman in Gold which took place in Vienna, Austria and the United Stares. This book was based on the relationship between Adele Bloch Bauer (the Woman in Gold) and the artist Gustav Klimt who painted her in the early 1900's. Adele Bloch Bauer was a Jewish woman living in Austria with her husband. The painting remained in their home till WWII when the Nazis took possession of it. After the war, the painting surfaced in the Belvedere Museum and the Austrians considered this to be the Austrian Mona Lisa. But the family especially Adele's niece Maria wanted the painting returned to the family and for many years challenged the Austrians for the painting. While this book centered around this painting, the reader also has a vivid sense of Austrian society, life among wealthy Jews and the cultural climate of Austria. The story was made into a movie starring Helen Mirren who played Maria which I thought was very good. And for me living so close to the Neue Gallery in Manhattan, I have seen the painting several times.

[Hannah]

For this topic I read Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement, which takes place in Guerrero, Mexico. It examines the life of young girls who have to cover themselves in dirt, cut their hair short, and hide in holes that they dug in the ground, all to avoid being kidnapped and sold by human traffickers involved in the drug war. I gave this one 3 out of 5 stars.

[Natália]

by Ally Carter, the third book in the Heist Society series. A good book, with lots of twists and a different premise than the previous books. A light, fast, entertaining read. Not my favorite of the series, but I liked it.